1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an overhead lining, designed as self-supporting, integral shaped bowl and mountable, as vehicular inside roof lining, to the roof structure of the body of a passenger car as described herein.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such shaped bowls have become known e.g. by German Utility Model 71,14,684. This known shaped bowl having a thickness of some centimeters is made of lightweight foam or hard foam material and, apart from effective protection of the passengers in case of accidents, shall, in particular, also serve the purpose of damping the noise of the sound issuing through the car body and of temperature-insulating. The shaped bowl may be squeezed into the roof structure of the vehicle but it may also be permanently bonded to the lower roof of the vehicle by means of adhesive bonds. Both plastic foils and sheeting fabrics of all kinds serve as linings for the known integral shaped bowl.
There also is another known padded inner lining for the roof of a vehicle, which lining is made of foam or another yielding bolstering material, has a cover in the form of a foil, artificial leather, leather or textile fabric and, together with the air ducts formed towards the lined roof, is mounted to said air ducts with the aid of spacers, such as e.g. materially uniform ribs, foamed or separately attached thereto (German Laying-open Specification 15 55 667).
Aside from a sufficient bolstering effect, such vehicular inside roof linings must not only be highly capable of withstanding mechanical stresses or taking loads, but also must convey an optically uttermost favorable appearance. Self-supporting, flexible shaped parts, which constitute such overhead linings, are subject to further essential preconditions, such as e.g. improved dimensional stability also with extreme moisture or temperature variations. With sufficient vapor-permeability, such bowls must always maintain the desired mechanical stability, and that with as low as possible a weight, i.e. material minimizing.
Departing from such self-supporting, flexible overhead linings comprising an appropriate surface lining, it is the object of the present invention to impart improved bending flexibility to the shaped bowl, regardless of the fact that improvement in material minimization is always worth aspiring after, so that it may, e.g. even subsequently, be introduced into the back of the passenger car through an opened window of same, as well as to enable lining of said shaped bowl without the use of cement, which bowl shall be of a material, that can be recycled, and shall be free from bonding-agent additives. The method of producing such self-supporting overhead linings shall have the merits of simplicity and of little need of employing tools.